Shadow-Well here's the next chapter! I think I'm getting a little better at updating now that I've brought all my characters into the story.
Stripe-So there's going to be no more OC's?
Shadow-For the time being, I might bring a few minor character in later on, but for now, I've got all that I want.
Sister-hay, Shady, have you seen were Sesshy gone to? I cant find him anywhere!
Shadow-Have you check the roof? Or you could try bribing InuYasha with a bowl of Raman.
Stripe-That's perfect! I wonder if we can convince to drop the Restraining Order he's got on us three?
Shadow-Three? It's on yous two! Not me, I'm not the one who tried to pull his ears off! And tried to see if his cloth would really not burn after being soaked in highly flammable fuel.
Sister-You know, we're spending too much time with Shadow….Let's go eat chocolate!
InuTashio-I thought I banned chocolate!
Stripe-Since when did we ever obey you? Shadow hurry up and up date!
Chapter 7
Nashi sat down heavily for breakfast at long last. She had gotten up early to make it, and since apparently hanyous and taiyoukais had bottomless pits for stomachs, she had been working at it for a long time. The only good thing was that Sesshomaru still refused to eat any of her cooking, so InuTashio had forced it down his throat on the grounds it was rude not to eat it. It had been a very amusing show for all those present and that was everyone but the spirit, who was only now floating down through the ceiling.
Morning! I think I'll start the dishes, since I can find out if I can eat later and I really don't need it. She called cheerfully as she went about cleaning up, since she didn't want anything to eat for the time being. There was going to be time for that later.
Zanda was just finishing translating when the three boys suddenly froze as they listened carefully.
"You know my translations aren't that interesting."
"Someone is coming." Sesshomaru finally answered. Nashi looked up from her meal, surprised.
"Really? We're not expecting anyone, are we? Zanda? Nicky?" Glancing at her two sisters and seeing the shaking of their heads, Nashi sighed as she was forced to leave her meal to go and see what was happening.
In the front room, Nashi calmly watched out the window for the approaching car. A sleek black Mercedes pulled up and men dressed in expensive suits stepped out.
"Who in their right minds would wear a suit at 6 in the morning?" Nashi grumbled to herself as she opened the front door. She didn't recognise anyone immediately, but that could still mean trouble.
"Can I help you?" Nashi asked, in perfect Japanese.
"Ahhh….Is there any chance you speaka Engalish?" one asked nervously.
"Yo hablar Inglis. No, wait, that's Spanish."
"You do speak English!" One of them accused her.
"Oh, damn. Alright, you've caught me out, now what do you want?" Nashi casually leaned up against the doorframe waiting for whomever they were to leave so she could get to school.
A third man stepped out of the car and straightened his suit. "Now, now, Nashilua, is that any way to greet your Godfather?"
Nashi screamed, which drew the attention of the three non-human beings out within seconds, the spirit and the two sisters right behind.
However, what they found was not what they expected. Nashi had run up and was happily hugging the third man, giving him a quick peck on each cheek before stepping back so the other two girls could see whom it was.
"Antonio!" They screamed in unison as they repeated the entire scene.
'Ha, ha, ha, ha! My word, I didn't expect to see you here Zanda, my sweet! Last time I heard of you, you were somewhere in the Amazon! Nicky, you've grown! And my dear Nashi, you look as much of your title as ever!" Antonio walked up to house after giving the other two men a hand signal to leave. Getting back into the car, they drove off without a word.
"Oh, Antonio, I would like to introduce you to our house mates! This is InuTashio, that there is Sesshomaru and over there with the dog-ears is InuYasha. And the floating spirit is Etela, I think she's meant to be a Ghost Maid. Any questions?" Nashi smiled brightly up at her godfather, happy to have him there.
"Just one; what are they?" Antonio pointed to the family of taiyoukais (and hanyou) with a raised eyebrow.
"They're inu taiyoukais," Zanda provided. "Translated, they're sorta like dog demon lords, except InuYasha, he's half human, which is cool 'cause he gets the cute doggy ears. Which I think are way cooler than elf ears." In the background you could hear InuTashio choking.
Nicky smiled. "I don't think he expected us to be so blunt."
"Tact never was our strong point. Care to come in, godfather? You know we love to have you over whenever you're in the neighbourhood." Nashi lead the way into the house, ignoring the cold looks from the other housemates (i.e., InuYasha, Sesshomaru, and especially InuTashio).
"So, how's life?" Zanda started off the conversation.
"Same as always. Oh, Ricky got the twist and Cammy got the whack."
"You serious? It's about bloody time, those creeps had it coming!" Nicky piped up.
"I'm surprised Nashi didn't take care of him herself. Then again, you never really wanted the fame, did you?"
Nashi smiled coldly as she set down the tea. "No, I didn't. There was just work to be done, now wasn't there? And if I didn't do it, who else could?" Nashi's cold and almost sinister smile went almost unnoticed by everyone present. After all, they were either used to it, were youkais (or part youkai) or were already dead and really didn't care.
"True, true. Oh, and the deal with West-Sider Mob went through. The new imports should be in next month. Or else there will be hell to pay." Antonio calmly sipped at his green tea, and almost choked when he finally took note of the taste. "What is'z this! This isn't coffee!"
Sesshomaru gave him a distasteful look, clearly telling all that the display of dislike was not needed.
'It's called green, or oolong tea. It's good for you, a lot better than coffee. Now drink it or else!" Nashi held up one of the kitchen knives for him to see, giving it a twirl.
Editor's note: Green tea? God, I much prefer coffee! Their poor godfather!
"Yes, Milady." Antonio settled himself down to forcing the foreign liquid down his throat.
"Antonio… what have I told you about calling me that? I no longer hold that title, I gave it up remember? Besides I hated it when people called me that." At InuTashio's and InuYasha's inquiring looks Nashi added, "And never you mind what I'm going on about, it's in the past and no longer matters. Come on you two, we've got school today, remember? We don't want to be late for our first day. We've already missed the first week." The two girls raced upstairs to get changed into their school uniforms with Nashi close behind.
All the men were happily discussing the best ways to kill people when the three girls came back down. InuTashio instantly exploded. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE SEVEN HELLS DO YOU THINK YOU THREE ARE WEARING?" Sesshomaru and InuYasha had to cover their ears for protection against the outraged yells of their father.
All three girls sighed sadly; they had forgotten to warn them about this. They were now in the typical Japanese sailor school uniform, with the short pleated skirts and the long sleeves.
"Look, it's not like we want to wear this. Personally I'd much rather wear a pair of old jeans to school, but it's compulsory and we have no say in it. When I find the creep that came up with this I am going to annihilate him in a very deliberate and agonizing way." Nashi continued toward the front door, Antonio picking up his mobile to call back his ride so he could take the girls to school. After all it was tradition for their godfather to drive them to their first day of school (They didn't expect it since they were now in Japan, not New York).
"Look, don't worry about it; if anything happens, I'll be more than happy to beat the crap out of them, k? We'll be home this arvo and try not to destroy the house, I like it the way it is. Lunch is in the fridge in the blue, red and white containers, and if you get hungry between designated meal times, there's snack food in the cupboard. No one is to eat anything out of the freezer or the storage room, you hear me?" Nashi glanced over to her sisters.
"Is that all?" InuYasha asked sarcastically.
"Keep out of our rooms and I don't think it would be a good idea for you to answer the phone. Oh, and keep out of MY office!" Zanda quickly ducked out of the door after the dark look she got from InuTashio.
"What do you think we are? Little kids?" InuYasha demanded.
"Yeah, pretty much. Have fun! We'll probably be a little late since we've got to make a stop at the museum first. Later!" Nicky waved as she went out the door.
"Stop." It was one of the very few things Sesshomaru had said that morning. "Tell me, human, do you not find it strange that your goddaughters are living with two youkai, a hanyou and a spirit?"
Antonio shrugged. "They could have had worse if they were still living in New York," was all he said as he left the house, leaving behind four very shocked housemates.
Nashi arrived home in quite a huff, very upset after only her first day back at school.
InuTashio had discovered just how comfortable the settee was and had made himself quite at home-after he had fixed up his office… again. "Something didn't go well I take it?"
"No! It didn't!" Nashi snapped back as she stormed her way up to her room after dropping the bags on the floor.
"Her teacher wants a parent-teacher interview," Nicky explained as she set down one of the bags she was carrying.
"Oh?" He pressed, suddenly more interested. Zanda pushed her way through the door with another two bags heavy in her arms. InuTashio got up and took them off her.
"Yes, apparently her teacher is concerned for her psychological welfare. She threatened to throw another student out the window after he commented on where the woman's place should be- at home cooking and cleaning. She disagreed and that led to at argument that the teacher couldn't control, and from there she threatened him with out the window. Now the teacher thinks that she has a slight mental problem and may need such things as anger management."
"So why is she so upset over this?"
"Well, to have a parent-teacher interview you need a parent, or at least a legal guardian, both of which we don't have." Nicky started to lift things out of the bags she had carried in. Most were in boxes and had a lot of wrapping around them so you couldn't see what they were.
"I guess we could always ask someone to come in with us, the only problem is who?" Zanda paused in her unpacking to think out loud. "We can't ask you since you're stuck in this stupid barrier, Sesshomaru won't even consider it, and InuYasha looks too young to pass as a legal guardian, so that leaves us with…" Zanda looked hopelessly as Nicky, who still had a blank look on her face.
"Antonio," Nashi stated flatly from the base of the stairs, causing everyone to look at her. "That leaves us with Antonio. He'll be taking me to my parent-teacher interview. If they want my legal guardian then they are going to get the closest thing to it. Nicky, send him an email, it's tomorrow night at 6. I want everything organized tonight. I'm going to go cook dinner, Zanda you might want to continue your research, we've gotta get the barrier down A.S.A.P. We have no idea when the times are going to start over lapping and I think it would be best to get back sooner rather then later." Nashi moved towards the kitchen, only to pause to look back at Nicky. "And I want that report after you finish with Antonio. I think tomorrow is going to be a late night." Nashi left with her foul mood to go butcher the veggies for dinner.
Zanda and Nicky left the room soon afterwards with the bags they had been carrying, leaving InuTashio to wonder what on Earth was happening. Well, that was until he heard the door to his office open up. Then all hell broke loose.
"Damn, I love hot springs. Do you guys think I can get that printed on my swim suit somewhere?" Nicky looked over to her sisters, plus the spirit, who were happily enjoying the hot water. They were all in their swimmers, Nicky in her black bikini, Nashi in her army Camo tank-top and matching bottom, and Zanda in her stylish bright blood red loop strap bikini. Etela was, well, still the same; it really didn't matter for her.
"Sure, why not? I'll get one too while you're at it. Do you think you can order it on the internet?" Nashi settled even deeper into the wonderful hot water.
"Think so, it shouldn't be too hard. Oh, and when's dinner?" Nicky didn't even bother to open her eyes.
"I decided to let the rice cool before I serve it up, so I think we've got another five, ten minutes."
I will just stay here, I am more than happy Etela mumbled contentedly.
Eh, works for me. Zanda sat up to stretch, unknowing that in doing so, she showed something that was going to cause all sorts of hell.
InuYasha was heading home after spending the day as far away from Sesshomaru as possible. It was something that they had quickly agreed on (and probably the only thing they agreed on) after they found out that now their father was alive, he wasn't going to let them kill one another. Glancing down at himself, he remembered how fussy women of this time were about bathing and he really didn't want to have to fight for his food. That was one pain he was hoping he would no longer have to live with any more. He figured that he'd stop by the hot springs on his way to the house so no one could complain. He was mildly surprised to find all the girls in the hot springs, even the spirit. Which really didn't make any sense, since she was dead, after all.
Deciding it was better to simply skip the bath and head in for dinner, InuYasha turned to leave when he saw a black mark on the back of Zanda's shoulder. He couldn't see clearly what it was because of the steam, but from what he could see it looked like a very large bug.
InuYasha couldn't resist a smirk. He was long overdue for some entertainment at the girl's discomfort, and as he saw it, this was as good as it gets.
Creeping up slowly, he carefully made his way toward the un-expecting girl to confirm what he thought he saw before he made his move. What he didn't see was Nashi slipping under the water with a bucket. Just as he was almost close enough to almost make out what was on the back of Zanda's shoulder he suddenly got very wet.
"You prick! Didn't ya mama ever teach ya never to spy on girls at the hot springs?" Nashi was not happy. She stood over the very wet hanyou with the bucket in one hand and the other fist on her hip.
"Boy, you are soooo gonna get now!" Nicky got hold of another bucket and dumped him with more water.
Etela got out of the hot springs with a swirling fury of movement, glowing with a hot red light (I'm not sure if it's from the hot springs or her anger ') while Zanda ducked down to her neck in the water.
"Pervert! Get lost you creep!" she screamed at him.
"Question." Everyone looked to Nicky, who had held up her hand as if she was in class. "Why are we so upset? After all we are in our swimmers."
"It's the matter of principle, Nicky. Besides that I think Nashi is just looking for someone to kill." Zanda answered.
"Oh, well if that's the case-you hentai! Get back here!" Nicky got out of the water and grabbed at her sarong as she and the others (who also grabbed their sarongs) gave chase to the fleeing soaked hanyou.
Quickly! He went inside! Etela went straight through the wall as the others had to go through the back door.
What they found inside stopped them short. InuYasha was being held up by the back of his hair.
"All right you three- four- no, three and a half! What happened here and why are you not dressed?" InuTashio raised an eyebrow at the three and a half girls before him.
Editor's note: Three and a half girls? I love it!
"He was sneaking up on us in the hot springs!" Zanda quickly shot back.
"Yeah, and this is the 21st C, get used to it!" Nicky added.
"Now if you will excuse us, we have some punishment to hand out." Nashi tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for InuYasha to be dropped.
"Well, I should be punishing my own son, or at least hearing his side of the story, but……" InuTashio looked thoughtful for a moment before releasing his son. InuYasha dropped to the ground and took off as soon as his feet touched the floor. InuTashio watched, amused at the sight of the barely dressed (in his opinion) girls take off after his son, who ran for all dear life. The sound of Sesshomaru coming into the house diverted his attention long enough for him to miss seeing Zanda's shoulder.
"Right, here's the plan; Nicky, you check the bathrooms, Zanda, you've got the laundry and living room, I'll take upstairs with Etela. Move out into your positions." Nashi gave out her orders as she moved towards the stairs.
Zanda made it to the laundry and, when she saw that the object of her search was not there, she turned to leave. Then she noticed the plain white shirt sitting on top of the clean clothes pile.
"Eh, why not?" She asked herself, slipping the shirt on before moving on to the living room.
InuYasha sat in the living room just out of sight of anyone passing by. When Zanda entered looking for him, he again noticed the dark smudge on the back of her shoulder. It wasn't completely covered by the white shirt but he still couldn't see what it was. Finally his curiosity got the better of him and he waited for the ideal time to pounce.
"EKKK!" Thud! Zanda hit the ground hard with InuYasha on top of her back.
"What you do that for!" Zanda protested.
"Shut up wench. I wanna see what the hell you've got on the back of your shoul-" InuYasha didn't get a chance to finish his sentence since Nashi tackled him.
"Ow! Bitch! What did ya do that for!"
"Get the hell off Zanda!" Nashi punched InuYasha's mouth in, effectively shutting him up long enough for Zanda to stand up and InuTashio and Sesshomaru to enter the room.
"What is going on here? InuYasha I thought I told you to watch your language." InuTashio crossed his arms and waited for the response. Only he too got knocked to the ground when Nicky raced into the room and neatly knocked the tai-youkai off-balance.
Zanda stood up and dusted herself off. "InuYasha jumped me from behind, called me a wench and said something about the back of my shoul-. He didn't finish the sentence since Nashi then arrived." Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow at InuYasha, who growled in response. "There's some weird marking on the back of her shoulder." he muttered more to himself than anyone else.
"Ohhhhhhh!" Came the loud response to the statement from all the girls who were now in the room.
Is he talking about your tattoo? Etela asked as she floated into the room.
Yeah, he is. All he had to do was ask. Zanda translated that into both languages which in turned caused all who were female to crack up laughing.
"You mean you went through all that just to get a look at Zanda's tattoo? Oh dear! What an idiot!" Nicky gasped out.
"What is going on?" Sesshomaru's icy tone caused the girls to gain enough composure to answer him.
"InuYasha has gone through hell and back and almost ripped off Zanda's shirt in an effort to get to something where all he had to do was ask!" Nashi explained.
"Eh?" InuYasha and his father said in unison, while all Sesshomaru did was raise an eyebrow.
"She's talking about this," Zanda pulled down her shirt to reveal a black tattoo done in Japanese kanji saying Yami.
"You have a tattoo?" Was the only response from InuTashio, though you could see his eyebrow twitching in annoyance.
"Yeah, I had it done last year. I thought it looked very cool. What do you think?" Zanda beamed proudly at the people behind her. Her two sisters sweat dropped at her for a few seconds before Nashi offered her some advice.
"Ah, Zanda? It's commonly considered a bad idea to show any parent that has not been pre-classified as 'cool' a tattoo. Tashio is definitely not one of those rare ones."
"Tashio?" His annoyance was definitely getting greater, if the gathering anger marks were anything to go by.
"You name is too damn long for you own good. " Nashi shot back.
"I think I can hear my computer calling." Nicky fled for all dear life.
I think I can hear the hot springs calling me. Etela was quick to follow.
Sesshomaru just walked out without a word.
"I think I can hear my office calling me." Zanda span around and head for the door only to be stopped by InuTashio's dangerous growl.
"Where do you think you're going?" Under InuTashio's hardened glare Zanda started to edge her way to the door.
"Ummmm……..away from here." With that, she fled up to her office with InuTashio making a grab at her, only to be stopped by Nashi grabbing hold of his hair.
"Listen you, you're not our parent, so stop acting like it. Further more, we don't need parents. Now if you'll excuse me I have dinner to serve up." Nashi swept past on her way out of the living room and back to the kitchen, still in her swimmers and sarong.
"Ahhh, what just happened?" InuYasha looked to his father, taking note of the cold look he had.
"Any power I could have gotten has just been taken away." Was all that was said before he too left, leaving InuYasha off the hook. Or so he thought.
'And don't think I've forgotten your need for punishment, InuYasha!" Came the reply as the elder tai-youkai left the room.
Cursing in somewhat colourful language, InuYasha could only start to imagine what his punishment would be.
"Are you sure about this? I mean this is a really important event and I would hate for something to happen to you, my sweet dear. Perhaps it would be better if I had one of my girls do it instead?' Antonio paced back and forth in front of the stall where his goddaughter was getting changed.
"No," Nashi shot back firmly. "This is too important for even the slightest slip up. I need to do this myself. Besides it's just an in and out job. All I've gotta do is get in there, hand over the tracking device and get out, not hardships whatsoever. I've done heaps of other jobs that were even harder than this, but this time I've got the advantage. There will be heaps of people from all over the world and all I've got to say is that I'm from overseas and change the subject. Considering how egotistical males can be, it'll be relatively easy to do so. Now pass me those shoes." Nashi's hand slipped out of the curtain while waiting for the shoes to be passed.
"I know that you know what you are doing, but do you really want to risk everything?" Antonio handed over the shoes and continued his pacing as he listened to Nashi struggle with the high heeled shoes.
"There's very little risk here, besides who are you to talk, I'm sure by now my teacher thinks I'm some part of the Mafia, thanks to you! I mean there is no way you could have been more obvious unless you said it straight out!" A long string of swearing followed this outburst as Nashi continued to struggle with the shoes.
"Oh, I give up! Antonio, would you please?" A long, well-toned leg came out of the stall and Antonio didn't hesitate to fix the shoe properly onto the foot.
"There, all done" Nashi stepped out of the stall to reveal the elegant girl dressed in a long dark red dress that shimmered in the light and split up to the waist on one side. The low neck-line and well-fitted waist-line left little to the imagination. Her blazing red hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head with wavy curls hanging down off it. The only jewellery she wore was a simple necklace that hung perfectly from her neck.
"My dear, you look like a real lady." Antonio bowed.
Nashi brushed him off with a careless wave of her hand. "Yeah, whatever. The sooner this is over, the sooner I can get this dress off. Remind me next time to have Zanda do this, I hate these boring parties and I've got school in the morning."
The only response from Antonio was a low chuckle. Offering his arm in a show of class, Antonio led Nashi to the limo that would take them to the party. "Shall we?"
Nashi walked into the darkened house. She had left instructions for dinner and supper, but had forgotten to tell them to leave a light on for her so that she wouldn't run into things in her semi-sleep state. Hey, it was 3am, who would want to be awake still after a full day of school, plus a parent-teacher interview that almost ended in her new teacher on the Mafia hit list. That was just what she needed, having to protect her teacher against an international criminal organisation. Like her life wasn't already complicated enough.
Overall her work that night had been a success, she had accomplished what she set out to do. While there was a few complications, that was to be expected- it came with the work.
Feeling her way through the house, Nashi couldn't be bothered turning on any lights. She was just too tired. Finally she came into contact with something hard, cold and somewhat painful. Nashi's protest could be heard throughout the house, waking up all who were asleep.
"Ow! Who the hell put this wall here!" (A/N Yes, people do scream this. I yelled it the other night when I tripped in the dark- only I fell over a lawn mover on my way to bed…)
"The renovators put it there!' Nicky's screamed response came from under her covers.
"Stupid, freakin', bloody…."
"Sesshy! Go and guide Nashi up to her room or none of us are going to get any sleep!" Zanda rolled over and tried to block out Nashi's insults and threats to the people who had fixed the wall that she had walked into.
"You cannot order me around human." Came the cold response from the other end of the house. There was a long pause.
"Yyyyyyaaaaaaasssshhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Plllleeeaaassseee! Nicky and Zanda called out in unison.
"Hell, no! I'm not here for your beck and call!" InuYasha wasn't going to be much help. Meanwhile Nashi's insults and threats continued. She wasn't going to move from that wall unless she was guided by someone else to her bed.
At InuYasha's refusal, the two girls who were already in bed continued their loud pleads and orders until InuTashio had had enough.
"InuYasha! Get down there and get Nashi to her room! And the rest of you SHUT UP! Can't a youkai sulk in peace?" InuTashio grumbled to himself.
Downstairs Nashi smiled to herself and paused her treats and insults. InuTashio had been sulking since she had given out her orders which included that he wasn't allowed to use the TV that night. She had done it solely to annoy the tai-youkai. He had gotten very interested in the TV since he discovered that it was for both entertainment and 'the passing on of local information' as Zanda had worded it (the news). He had stolen Nashi's last can of coke (which he had also taken a liking to in the last 24 hours) and he had to pay. Besides that, Nicky and Zanda knew how to use a computer. Nashi had unplugged the TV and had taken the cords with her to the interview. Now where had she left them?...
By the time InuYasha made his way downstairs, he discovered Nashi talking to herself about something to do with her school bag and the shotgun with green lolly pop.
Guiding her upstairs without hitting too many walls, InuYasha left Nashi in her room before heading back to his own, shaking his head at the nonsense that Nashi said in her semi-asleep state. It was only when he got back to his room did he realise that the spirit Etela had slept though it all. Which once more didn't make sense; after all, she was dead, right?
Shadow-Well, there's that chapter. Oh, a reviewer asked if I was going to do crossovers, and I'll say it now, I don't watch that much TV, so no, I will not be doing any crossovers.
Stripe-Good cause its gets confusing sometimes
Sister-When is she not confusing?
InuYasha-Never
Shadow-Yasha, run. Bye, bye for now! It's late and I want my bed!
Sesshomaru- Weak humans.
Shadow-You know the pink tu-tu threat still stands.